Porch & Recreation is bringing a new type of festival to Adelaide
This weekend, Porch & Recreation will debut at the Burnside Ballroom with a curated music, food and drinks offering.
Brand new festival Porch & Recreation will debut at the Burnside Ballroom this Saturday and Sunday.
This festival – put on by the creators of Summertown Studio and The Porch Sessions – will bring performers that often miss out on touring to Adelaide.
This talent includes headliners Mount Kimbie alongside Surprise Chef, Emma Donovan and more.
“It’s quite heavily curated. So all of the music that we’ve put together, we’ve put a lot of time and energy around hand picking artists that maybe don’t come here,” says Sharni Honor of Summertown Studio and The Porch Sessions, who has over 13 years of experience in curating and touring shows.
“All of these artists are on the rise and are doing really interesting stuff, and probably don’t play here that often.”
The local artists on the lineup include Alexander Flood, Druid Fluids, Kara Manansala, Shodashi and more.
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“With our work at Summertown Studio, we book a lot of [live music] nights down there, so we have heaps of local musicians that come through all the time,” Sharni says.
“It actually serves as a really cool platform for us to book these bigger moments and that didn’t take a second thought.”
In putting together Porch & Recreation, she has worked alongside the teams behind interstate winter arts festivals like Vivid Sydney, Rising Melbourne and Dark MOFO.
“I feel like the agents that book a lot of that music have a definite understanding of the Adelaide market, and know that it’s different,” Sharni says on working with those interstate festivals.
“There is a real trust element of if you’re on the ground, and if you know the audience in Adelaide, we’re happy for you to take on touring these shows, because it’s a bit more complex for interstate agents to book shows here.”
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Although the main focus of Porch & Recreation is the musical acts, Sharni has made a conscious effort to add other elements, like a strong food and beverage offering, to the festival.
Greg Lay of Wild Woodfired Pizza and Daniel Gill of Braising Boy will be cooking, as well as beverages by Hither & Yon, Tops, Brighter Later Gin and more.
Sharni acknowledges the “scary [music festival] climate”, given a rise in music festival cancellations. But she says Porch & Recreation is a representation of a “really beautiful, curated, quality experience”.
“I think we’re seeing a lot of that top end of the festival climate drop off, which is high volume, high turnover, 1000s of people in a field reliant on weather,” Sharni says.
“So [Porch & Recreation] I think speaks to that element of being able to see a lot of beautiful artists in one big day with great people, but without it being an absolute swim through, not about relying on weather [as it’s indoors].
“This is taking all the magic of festivals, but doing it in a safe, good, classy, fun way, which I do think there’s a future in that.
“I think nationwide, this will be the future of what festivals look like – just a bit more boutique, a bit smaller, a bit more manageable, which is exciting.”
Porch & Recreation will take place at the Burnside Ballroom located at 401 Greenhill Road, Tusmore this Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1.
Purchase tickets through the website.
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